Strip-feeding mechanism



Dec. 7, 1926. v 1,609,876

L. JENSEN STRIP FEEDING MEGHANI SM Filed April 30, 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Z waiter L. JENSEN STRIP FEEDING MECHANISM Filed April 30, 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 U M V I! W 67 f I m a l 1521/6 Rio: ZomJensem Dec. 7', 1926.

L. JENSEN STRIP FEEDING MECHANISM Filed April 30, 1924 '4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Ewe 7510f ZOMS J6n6 27v m 1 m i t O Dec. 7,1926. 1,609,876

L. JENSEN STRIP FEEDING MECHANISM Filed April 50, 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Even/tor W Zo a '6 ijvwevy Patented Dec. 7, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS JENSEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 UNITED AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

STRIP-FEEDING MECHANISM.

Application filed April 30,

My present invention relates to an apparatus for feeding a strip or strips of material, and particularly structures that are actuated to feed the paper strips through an autographic register by means of a small elec tric motor or the like. Primarily, however, my present invention is for the purpose of feeding strips of material, whether paper, fabric, motion picture film, or the like, as its principles are well adapted for any of these types of mechanism.

One of the numerous objects of my invention is to provide motor-actuated means that will feed the strip or strips of material a predetermined distance and then stop so that further longitudinal movement of the strip will be discontinued until the apparatus is again set and started. In this connection I have provided a simple and effective switch operating device or cut-out structure that may be manually actuated for the purpose of disconecting or breaking the circuit leading to the motor and permits the strip feeding mechanism to be actuated manually whenever it is so desired. In conjunction within the motor-driven mechanism there is provided means that will feed the strip or strips longitudinally, which will automatically discontinue the feed at predetermined locations on the strip, whether the motor-actuated mechanism is stopped or not.

In an autographic register, the strips, like the strips of cinematograph film, are .previously perforated to determine the lengths of the respective tickets or spaces on the strip and the tickets or spaces may vary in length according to the service for which they are intended. The automatic means for stopping the feed coacts with the perforations in the strip or strips at the predetermined locations so that but a single predetermined length will be fed during each operation: but it is desirable to have the motor continue to operate for a period that would be sufiicient to feed the longest ticket or predetermined length of the strip that it is desired to feed through the machine. I have accomplished this in a very effective and dependable manner by means of simple mechanism that will not readily get out of order and'which is extremely compact so that it may be readily mounted upon theside Wall of the register or other 1924. Serial No, 709,954.

Figure 8 is a top plan of the structure shown in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a detail view, similar to Figure 1, but having the motor and worm wheel removed for the purpose of clearness;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 showing the parts in a differentposition or when the structure has been set and is ready to begin operation.

Figure 6, is a fragmentary view, drawn to an enlarged scale, showing schematically two positions of a portion of the strip starter mechanism.

Figure 7 is an enlarged detail view of a fragmentary portion of the motor cut out showing the switch opened in a position to stop the motor.

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 7 showing the switch closed and the mechanism ready to start operation.

F i ure 9 is a ers ective view of a fra 7 1'3 mentary portion of the structure showing means for holding the switch open while the device 15 operated manually.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen I have employed an autographic register to illustrate a typical embodiment of my invention which autographic register comprises side walls 10 that are mounted upon.

the longitudinal edges of the base 11, and a platen 12 connects the upper edges of said walls. The strip feeding mechanism is such that the paper strip or strips are fed a predetermined distance and then the feeding mechanism becomes ineffective to move the strip or strips further. This mechanism is similar to that forming the subject matter of the copending application of Walter R. Barker and myself for Letters .viously perforated at the end of thereafterineflective to move the strips.

Patent of the United States, which was filed February 9, 1922, Serial No. 535,293. The mechanism just alluded to feeds the desired lengths of the strips out at the delivery end of the structure, the strips being preach pre determined space or ticket and each ticlret bears the desired printed notation thereon. The feed mechanism will. now be briefly described in connection with Figure 2 of the drawings, where it will be seen that the same comprises a rotatable main shaft 13 (hollow) upon which rigidly secured the grooved rollers 14 and 15 for co-operation with a knurled feed roller 16 that is mounted above the same and is provided with annular grooves 17 in registry with grooves in the rollers 14 and 15. i A removable crank 18 is secured on the outer extended end of shaft. 13 whereby 1 the structure may be manually operated. V'The roller 16. carries a threads clear the recess '31 said arm will gear 191.011 one end that meshes with a gear 20 fast upon the shaft '13, and after a coinpleteoperation of the feeding mechanism, the stripscome to rest with a pair of perforationsther-einpositioned inregistry with rollers 14- and 15 between said rollers and the feed roller 16' so that further rotation ofithe main shaft or rollers 1 1 and '15 In order to start the strips and move the perforated portion beyond the range of the feed rollers, it. is necessary to press a key or lever 21 that is fast upon the transverse rock shaft .22, whichlatter carries, at its opposite end,

an arm 23,. thefunctiOnof which latter will presently ,appear. 7 Extending from sidev Wall to side wall of the register is a second ,rock shaft 24; which, at its end adjacent the arm 23, provided with a pawl 25 that pro ects across the extended end of a shaft 26 'that is slidably mounted within the hollow mainshaft 13, so that it may be moved or shifted longitudinally therein.

.27 engages with an annulus or feed roller 30 loosely mounted upon the shaft- 13' and havinganv inner conical surface for receiving the clutch member 27. Then the annulus 30 is centered bv the clutch member v.2? it abuts against a blocker stop 30 on shaft 26 and said annulus is lifted into engagement with the strip and causes the periphery of the annulus to coact with the upper feed roller 16 so that rotation of the crank 18 or a drive -from the mot be hereinafter described) will cause a ingofthe strips a sufficient distance to-ca the perforations therein out of the range the grooved feed rollers 14 and 15, so that the latter will again become effective for continuing the feed of the strip or strips until the next set of perf rations are brought into registry therewith. The clutch member 2'? automatically disenga ed from the annulus after. a sufficient movement thereof, due to the end of shaft 26 having a threaded engagement with a threaded recess 81 in the under side of the arm 25 when the latter is in its upper position and resting upon the end of the shaft. Because of this threaded engagement -between sha t 26 and the arm 25, this inner shaft travels to the right (Figure 6) at the beginning ofits rotating the latter to drop back to its original loose positionupon its shaft The arm25, fast on rock shaft 2 1, is dulled downwardly by acontractioii spring'32 so that when the position itself in front of the threaded end of the shaft 26, and the side of the arm will 'then serve to hold the shaft 26 in its retracted position and consequently the clutch and annulus disengaged. A lateral finger 33 fixed to the rock shaft 24: 1s engagedby the upward movement of the arm 23 when shaft is rocked by the depression of the 'anisninow to be described is employed for actuating the feed rollers A motor 34 having a motor shaft 35 18 mounted in a. suitable saddle or seat 36 secured to the side wall of the register opposite the crank 18 and starting key 21; The

motor shaft carries the worm 37 that meshes with and drives a worm wheel 38 havingan elongated hub sleeve 40 mounted upon stub 39'projecting from the sidewall 10 and has its inner end Lip-set so that it will provide a retaining flange 41. This stub shaft near the. wall 10 carries a looselgear 12 in'niesh with a gear 43 on the. feed roller shaft and connects with worm wheel sleeve dO'by the clutch elements so that he motor will drive shaft 13' to feed sips be (Iii to the side wall 10 of the register, as shown in detail in Figures 7 8 and 9. A longer arm 50 is mounted between the insulating blocks 48 and 49 by a binding post 51 to which the conductor wire is connected. These arms 46 and carry, respectively, the contact elements 52 and 53, and the longer arm 50 is preferably yielding and at its upper end is provided with a lateral member 54 that has an insulating plate 55 upon its outer end. The longer arm 50, is of a yielding character so that it is normally urged toward the shorter arm whereby the contact elements 52 and 53 are in engagement with each other and th circuit is made or closed to the motor, and the latter will be operative. When it is desired to operate the structure. by the handle crank, the yielding arm 50 is moved away from the outer arm by means of a cam in the form of a v-edge block 56 carried upon the adjacent side of a reciprocal link 57 that is connected at one end to a control lever 58, which latter is pivoted at its upper end upon a screw 59 threaded in wall 10, of the register. The opposite end of the. link 57 is provided with an elongated slot 60 to receive a headed pin or bolt 61 projecting from the side wall of the register so that when said link i reciprocated by the control lever 58 the slotted portion will ride on the pin and the wedge block or cam 56 will engage and move the yielding arm 50 away from the shorter arm and thereby break the circuit so that the motor can not be operated although the feeding mechanism may then be controlled by the handle or crank 18.

When the. feeding mechanismis actuated by the motor, the groovedrollers 14 and 15, when they come into registry with the perforation in the strip, will, of course, stop the feed of the latter, and unless some means are employed to control the motor the latter will continue to operate and the expense of running the motor would become quite an item. In this connection I have designed an automatic cut-out for the motor circuit so that after 'he same has operated a sufiicient time to feed the complete ticket by means of the feed mechanism the circuit will be automatically broken and the motor stopped. This mechanism is controlled through the medium of the actuating key 21 which is employed to set the clutch mechanism for the initial feed of the strip. mechanism preferably comprises a cam de vice that is operated by hub sleeve 40 heretofore referred to. This cam device may be of any suitable construction, and I have shown it as comprising a threaded sleeve. 62 reciprocably mounted upon the hub sleeve 40 and guided by means of lug 63 projecting into its bore and seated in an elongated grooveor channel 64 extended longitudinally in said hub sleeve 40, which permits said This control cam sleeve to be rotated with, but be moved longitudinally on the hub sleeve 40. This cam sleeve is urged toward the outer end of the hub sleeve 40 by a coiled expansion spring 65 that is interposed between one end thereof and the gear 42, and said sleeve is provided, on its end nearest the register side wall with an annular flange 66 that is of greater diameter than the threads so that it projects beyond said threads. When sleeve is reciprocated longitudinally upon the hub sleeve 40 the flange will engage the insulating plate 55 upon the adjacent end of the elongated yielding arm 50 of the switch heretofore described. The operation of this cam or threaded sleeve is controlled by an L-shaped pawl 67, the downwardly extended end 68 thereof being so positioned that it engages the threads of the. sleeve 62. The opposite end of this pawl 67 is secured fast upon the rock shaft 24 that carries the arm 25 and is normally urged downwardly by the action of spring 32 that connected to the arm 25. lVhen the shaft 24 is rocked by the depression of the key 21 the lateral finger 33 will be raised by the arm 23 as seen in Figure 5, and the L-shaped pawl 67 is lifted clear of the threads on the cam sleeve 62 while the latter, through the action of the spring 65 will be moved outwardly on the hub sleeve 40 until the lateral member 68 of the L-shaped pawl will be engaged with the disk or annular flange 66, stopping further longitudinal movement of the cam sleeve and thereby releasing the elongated yielding arm 50 of the switch structure so that the circuit is closed to the motor and the latter begins to operate. The end of arm 23 at the end of its upward movement momentarily holds block 55 on the yielding switch arm out of engagement with the flange 66 so as to avoid starting the motor before the arm 6'? has engaged the threads 62. Upon releasing key 21 a slight reverse rocking of shaft 24 takes place when the arm 67 finds threads 62 which moves arm 23 downward far enough to clear the block 55 and the contact is made to form the circuit to the motor. This prevents removal of more than one set of tickets at each depression of the starter key 21. The relative positions of these parts at the beginning of the operation of the motor is illustrated schematically in Figure 8 of the drawing. When the motor operates it drives the. feeding mechanism through gear 42 and the strip is fed through the register in the manner heretofore described until the perforations come into registry with the grooved feed rollers 14 and 15 at which time the further movement of the strip is stopped. The motor, however, will thereafter continue to run while the threads of the cam sleeve are rotating in engagement with the lateral member 68 of the L-shaped pawl. This moves the sleeve longitudinally lll5 " annulus-BO so'that the stripqwill berfed a rim,

haclc' (upon the hub "sleeve: towards the' in it understood that-.ra-lli FSIlIGh "changes; and1re--. sulating splateof; the; yielding switch afinementszarerfully contemplated as coming-,2 arm 50-,-butrwhen 'SlldhPrllfS' COfllG into-en; withinvthe" scope,.-.of-.-iny iI1V611-ti011.121$11 ex gagernen-tthe disk orafiangeitifi will move-their-pressed intheiappended claims;

"switch arm '50 laterally andbrealethe circuitlVhat-l claimzis so that :the motorwill be: stopped. 1 The; 1.1111 a strip feeding.mechanism.forautolateral ineinben (38 of the L-shaped :pa'w-l': graphic reg isters, .means. fon'movingthen will maintainv the parts in this position 1 (Fig strip; mechanism for intermittently actuate... ure iintila'thekeyQl-is againwdepressedin said means and including:a driven. shaifti:

L toreset theistarting and:feedingimeehanisin, operatively-connected thereto, :a eamirotated.

which of courselift-sztheipawl 67-clear of -;by said drivenshaft, and devices 'forbodil yl, thezthreads of thecamtsleeve. 62am}. perfi moving said: cam transverse to its ,rotative; inits'saidssleevetozslide.outwardly until theymovement -from gone position tel-another. flai1gezr66=-comes inter-engagement; with the whereby torender said driven shaft opera-t.

the switch. It willi be: understood ethat by strip moving neansz. adjusting or regulatingnthe -amount"of-ror :In a strip-feeding mechanism for. :autoe, tative movement-of the threaded-cam sleeve:-gi1aphio -i'egisters, meansmfor moving-gthe;.. GQi-iipOnwthehub sleeve '40 'thei exact time strip, mechanisin .-for intermittently.actuatr..

'for sto'pping'the motor may behreadily con-- ingsaid means and ineludinga drivenshaftj trollechnand it will: also he-understood that, operati-veiyconnectedthereto; a .cam .-1nov.-. when thestructureis operated-hythe; motor', able. longitudinally with respect ttO. said. pon the depre s-ionef the key-21', the .elutclr driwen-shaft and rotated the latter, and. elementsQ'? will'centen-thelstarter: roller oi'--dev=ices --for I causing-the said longitudinah iinentofosaidi cam whereby .to render. 9 distance: to move the PG'l ZfOYQtlOHSMOHt/ of: said-drivenshaft'operatiive and inoperative registry-with the igroovedrollersrlee and/15 1 with respect to saidstr-ipinioving means..- inxzthe'esam-e iinannemaswhen the deviceis 3. in. a stripfeeding-mechanism for auto: manually operat d y-th Crank-18.4 This graphic i-registers, means for moving),the;v initialzor startingenioveinentiis required bothstrip; mechanism for intermittently actuat: by the' motor and by the liand 'operfl edk ing said meansand includingia driven. shaft 1 mechanism, and when the-feeding...meoha+.- ti l -thereto,ua cam mounted upon: nism is to be actuated'by'hand-the control dd d i h ft t b .regipfpcated13116139911 lever 58 is moved-to the position'shown i11 and-rotatedthereby, andide-vicesfor. reci-p:

- Figurer9 with the-:con'taets 5-2- and 53- outeof mi id i idgh ft h reby engagementwandthe circuit dorokenmGear t -rendep th ol' ttere e ti and inQperad2 is normally urgedtO H C S e-61 d 1?" tive with respect to said strip movin gmeaner hub sleeve iO-to olutch therewith hyamelon-w 4. 111311, tri .ieedingmechanism.for auto gated spring platelOl: that .is 'secur'edat izts hi i te means f mowing (the lower end-to theregister'wall by a screw or strip, mechanism for intermittently Iactuatil flfi V rivet- 102 and atits outerend. isslightly ingsaid'means andiinoluding a driven shafti enlarged'=and"haean: aperture 103 through. opglratiyely cOnneCted, th r tqa ,threaded; which'stubshaft 39 is passed. Intermediat sleet-e mounted- .torrecipi-ocate: upon .said its ends this springiplate is aperturedfor-t e driven shaft anddoe. rotated therebyand idea. passageofthescrew 59 onavh-ich thenlevel vices .inel-udingan element adaptedto engage, armr58-is pivoted,andsurroundingithe apexvth th d fsaid sleeve. whereby during, tureris "a tubu r S- lotthiltilell-i' rotation s'aidsleeve .is reciprocatedupon said gauges the j acelltend of mlrenlargement shaft torender the latter operative. and in--,. the p operative with respect-tosaid strip moving tactingends -of thesemembers-have cam-ormeans V Oblique/fees Soihali whenIthvlevefalm 5. Ina strip feeding'mechanismfor auto: .7 is moved to open the switchthe cam faces hi h i 't a ot t bl rf l h ft will move the springplate 10ltowar ls the. means 1 m shaft .forumoving-tthe' strip,,a register-wall which allows thecoil spring 1 shaft, .gearszoperatively connecting 65- to'move-the gear42-awayfrom the end aid-f d haft t id h ft, t t d, of .the hlibHSlGVG' 40 and disconnect: the b idd i l ft dd i f r yi gf clutch members 100- so'that the maehine'may di f i iti em th h be aetuated'by handand all. connection with b zt render saiddrivenrshaft o ative and. the-HIOt r will be 11 P inoperative-with respect tosaid-feedsha'ft.

Wliile I have herein illustratedand de- 6, Ina stripfeeding mechanism for auto+ scribed a single specific embodiment :of-mygraphic ircgisters, a rotatable. feed shaft, invention, it is obvious that -nurnerousmeans-on said shaft formovingthe strip, 21 changes and :modifications may 'b6"'11l&l8i driven shaft, gears operatively. connecting: without departing from the vprinciples :I said feedshaft to said driven shaft, a cam.v

have herein "disclosed. ...I thereforedesire mountedupon saiddrivenshaft .fso..as:.tolloe;;

lateralinember 68of the pawl to-a-gainclose #tive and inoperative: withrrespect.=to..said.ll0..

reoiprocated thereon and rotated thereby, and devices for reciprocating said cam upon said driven shaft whereby to render the latter operative and inoperative with respect to said feed shaft.

7 In a strip feeding mechanism for autographic registers, a rotatable feed shaft, means on said strip for moving the strip, a driven shaft, gears operatively connecting said feed shaft to said driven shaft, athreaded sleeve mounted to reciprocate upon said driven shaft and to be rotated When the latter is rotated, and devices including an element adapted to engage the threads of said sleeve whereby during rotation said sleeve is reeiprocated on said shaft to render the latter operative and inoperative With respect to the strip moving means.

Signed at Chicago, county of Cook and State of Illinois, this 27th day of March LOUIS JENSEN. 

